A rally for clean elections featuring appearances from local Madison politicians was held at Library Mall Wednesday, drawing UW-Madison students and political activists alike.
The rally supported Senate Bill 1, which would create an independent ethics and election board to investigate and prosecute campaign finance related violations. Further campaign finance issues were also addressed.
According to Tegan Costanza, UW-Madison sophomore and member of the Wisconsin Public Interest Research Group, the establishment of independent boards will mandate enforcement of existing campaign finance laws. Currently, state law forbids public officials from accepting anything of value from lobbyists or the organizations that employ them.
Our current system of politics is based not on what is best for the average person, it's based on which interest group has the biggest checkbook and makes the biggest contributions to political candidates,\ state Rep. Spencer Black, D-Madison said. ""Congress decided to take 12 billion dollars away from student financial aid and give oil companies, who hardly need a hand, an additional 12 billion dollars in subsidies.""
In his speech, Black also said he wrote a letter to Gov. Jim Doyle, urging action on campaign finance reform before the November elections. Black said he is calling on Doyle to call a special legislative session to remedy this problem.
""If we don't have campaign finance reform, we are going to have record amounts spent on the upcoming election, and we will continue to have decisions at the Capitol made based on campaign contributions,"" Black said. He added delay could lead to record spending in the gubernatorial and legislative elections.
Nino Amato, former member of the UW System Board of Regents, criticized Doyle for saying campaign finance would be his top priority and not acting on the claim. He urged citizens to call up their lawmakers and demand action.
""Nothing short of an aroused public will change the system,"" Amato said. ""The American Dream is eroding, it's eroding because we've got money in politics and special interests is basically dominating democracy.""
Amato labeled the current situation in Wisconsin politics and politics nationwide as a ""checkbook democracy.""
Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the ""state of state government is corrupt.""
McCabe said all students share a common bond in that they do not make big campaign contributions.
""You are being ignored not because the state doesn't have money, not because the state is broke but because the legislators who are establishing priorities have chosen to do the bidding of their wealthy special interest donors and not you,"" McCabe said.
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